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The 2017 Liberal Democrats leadership election was held following the resignation of Tim Farron as leader on 14 June 2017, after just under two years as leader of the Liberal Democrats. At the close of applications on 20 July 2017, Vince Cable was the only nominated candidate and was therefore declared the new leader of the party.
In the 2017 general election, the Liberal Democrats gained four seats compared to the previous election despite a falling share of the vote, maintaining the party as the fourth largest in the House of Commons. [1] Some prominent Liberal Democrat MPs who lost their seats in the 2015 election regained their seats, including Cable, Ed Davey and Jo Swinson. Former party leader Nick Clegg lost his seat.
Tim Farron, the party's leader, was re-elected in his Westmorland and Lonsdale constituency with a significantly reduced majority. He announced he would step down as party leader on 14 June 2017, a week after the election, citing difficulty in reconciling his faith and his leadership. [2] He remained as party leader until the 20 July, when he was succeeded by Vince Cable following an uncontested leadership election. [2]
The timetable for the leadership election was determined by the party's Federal Executive, under Article 17.4 of the Liberal Democrat constitution. [3]
Liberal Democrat leadership elections use the alternative vote (instant runoff) system, with all Liberal Democrat party members being entitled to vote under a "one member, one vote" system.
Candidates had to be current Liberal Democrat MPs. Article 18.5 of the Liberal Democrat constitution [3] requires that any candidate wishing to stand must be a Member of Parliament and must have the support of:
The election timetable was as follows: [4]
| 25 June | Opening of nominations |
| 20 July | Closing of nominations (4pm) |
| 16 August | Dispatch of ballot papers |
| 11 September | Deadline for ballot papers to be returned (5pm post or hand, midnight electronic) |
| 13 September | Verification, count and declaration of the winner |
Despite being the bookmakers' favourite, Jo Swinson announced on 18 June that she would not stand for the leadership. She explained that she had decided to contest the deputy leadership before hearing of Farron's resignation and that she had decided that the deputy leadership was the right role for her at the time. [5] On 20 June, Swinson was elected unopposed as deputy leader. This left Ed Davey, Norman Lamb and Vince Cable as the most likely contenders. [6] Cable declared his candidacy on 20 June.
There was some speculation that Swinson had chosen to support Cable to lead for two or three years before taking over the leadership herself, given his age compared to other potential leadership candidates. [7] The Daily Telegraph claimed that Swinson and Cable had agreed a deal to this effect. [8] While both Swinson and Cable denied this, Cable did tell the Telegraph that "it is a simple fact of life if I decided in three years' time to let someone else take over she is ideally placed to do it". [9]
Lamb had stood in the last leadership election, and has been praised for his work on mental health. He was expected to be more centrist and less stridently oppositional to Brexit, [10] and his abstention on the vote for the Article 50 notification triggering Brexit was seen as a potential weakness within the strongly pro-EU party. [11] He declined to stand, and explained his decision in an article in The Guardian , calling for the party to better engage with those who voted for Brexit. [12]
Davey originally planned to support Swinson. [11] He has been associated with The Orange Book wing of the party. [10] On 27 June, Davey announced he would not be standing for the leadership, citing "the need to be there for my young children and not continually away from home". [13]
Following Davey's announcement, The Guardian observed: "Nominations do not close until next month, but Cable is the only candidate to have declared and there is no other Lib Dem MP seen as having the potential to beat him in a contest". [14] By 3 July 2017, ten of the eleven other Liberal Democrat MPs had declared they would not be standing; this left Christine Jardine, who was only elected to Parliament in June 2017, as the only remaining potential challenger who had not declared their intent. [15] [16] [17] [13] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] By 14 July, Vince Cable claimed that every other MP had pledged to support him. [23]
The following survey was conducted before the close of nominations and therefore includes candidates who did not put themselves forward.
| Date(s) conducted | Polling organisation/client | Sample size | Jo Swinson | Norman Lamb | Vince Cable | Ed Davey | Layla Moran | All others |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| June | Lib Dem Newswire | 2,209 Lib Dem members | 57% | — | — | — | — | 43% [n 1] |
| — | 30% | 29% | 18% | 8% | 15% | |||
| — | 52% | 48% | — | — | — | |||
| — | — | 57% | 43% | — | — |
At 16:00 on 20 July 2017, Vince Cable was the only nominated candidate and was declared leader of the Liberal Democrats.
Sir Edward Jonathan Davey is a British politician who has served as Leader of the Liberal Democrats since 2020, having acted in the position from 2019 to 2020. He served in the Cameron–Clegg coalition as Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change from 2012 to 2015 and as Deputy Leader to Jo Swinson in 2019. An "Orange Book" liberal, he has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Kingston and Surbiton since 2017, and served in the same role from 1997 to 2015.
Sir Norman Peter Lamb is a British politician and solicitor. He was the Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament (MP) for North Norfolk from 2001 to 2019, and was the chair of the Science and Technology Select Committee from 2017 to 2019.
John David Pugh is a British Liberal Democrat politician. He was the Member of Parliament for Southport from 2001 to 2017. He stood down at the 2017 snap election. In November 2017, he was elected to Sefton Metropolitan Borough Council as a councillor for Duke's Ward.
Susan Veronica Kramer, Baroness Kramer PC is a British politician and life peer who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Richmond Park from 2005 to 2010. A member of the Liberal Democrats, she was their Treasury Spokesperson from 2015 to 2017 and 2017 to 2019.
Joanne Kate Swinson is a Director of Partners for a New Economy and a British former politician who was Leader of the Liberal Democrats from July to December 2019. She was the first woman and the youngest person to hold the position, as well as the shortest-serving holder of the post. Swinson was Member of Parliament (MP) for East Dunbartonshire from 2005 to 2015 and 2017 to 2019. In September 2020, Swinson became Director of Partners for a New Economy (P4NE).
Timothy James Farron is a British politician who served as Leader of the Liberal Democrats from 2015 to 2017. He was elected Member of Parliament (MP) for Westmorland and Lonsdale in 2005 and is the Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. Before entering politics, he worked in higher education.
The Beveridge Group is a centre-left group within the Liberal Democrat party in the UK. It was set up in 2001 by MPs Alistair Carmichael, Paul Holmes, John Barrett and John Pugh to promote debate within the party regarding public service provision.
In the 2006 Liberal Democrats leadership election, Sir Menzies Campbell was elected to succeed Charles Kennedy as Leader of the Liberal Democrats, the third-largest political party in the United Kingdom.
This timeline of events in the Liberal Democrats leadership election, 2006 lists the events covering the period from Charles Kennedy's initial call for a leadership election with the Liberal Democrats to the conclusion of the 2006 Liberal Democrats leadership election.
The Liberal Democrats are a political party in the United Kingdom. Party members elect the leader of the Liberal Democrats, the head and highest-ranking member of the party. Liberal Democrat members of Parliament also elect a deputy leader of the Parliamentary Party in the House of Commons, often colloquially referred to as the deputy leader. Under the federal constitution of the Liberal Democrats the leader is required to be a member of the House of Commons.
The 2007 Liberal Democrats leadership election was held following the resignation of Sir Menzies Campbell as leader on 15 October 2007, after 19 months as leader of the Liberal Democrats, the third-largest political party in the United Kingdom. Vincent Cable, the deputy leader of the parliamentary party, was acting leader until the conclusion of the leadership election. The result was announced on 18 December 2007 with Nick Clegg winning by a narrow margin of 1.2%.
The Liberal Democrats are a political party in the United Kingdom, founded in 1988. The third-largest UK political party, they have 15 members of Parliament in the House of Commons, 84 members of the House of Lords, four Members of the Scottish Parliament, one member in the Welsh Senedd, and over 3,000 local council seats. The Liberal Democrat Conference formulates party policy.
Layla Michelle Moran is a British Liberal Democrat politician serving as the Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs and International Development since 2020, and serving as the Member of Parliament for Oxford West and Abingdon since 2017.
The 2010 Liberal Democrats deputy leadership election began on 26 May 2010, when the sitting Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats, Vince Cable, announced his resignation following his appointment as Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills in the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government. Nominations closed on 2 June, and the balloting took place on 9 June. The election was won by Simon Hughes.
The 2015 Liberal Democrats leadership election was held on 16 July 2015 following the resignation of Nick Clegg as leader on 8 May 2015, after almost eight years as leader of the Liberal Democrats, following the party's poor performance at the 2015 general election.
The 2017 Liberal Democrats deputy leadership election was announced on 14 June 2017, and Jo Swinson was elected unopposed on 20 June.
Wera Benedicta Hobhouse is a British-German politician. A member of the Liberal Democrats, she has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Bath since 2017 and serves as the Liberal Democrat Shadow Leader of the House of Commons and Spokesperson for Energy and Climate Change and Transport under Ed Davey.
On 20 July 2017, Sir Vince Cable became Leader of the Liberal Democrats after facing no competition. He was the oldest leader of a major UK political party since Sir Winston Churchill. Upon taking office Cable made no significant reshuffle to his Frontbench Team, so the line-up remained much as it was inherited from Tim Farron. Cable later completed his first reshuffle a few weeks after the Party's 2017 Autumn Conference.
The 2019 Liberal Democrats leadership election was held following the announcement of the resignation of Vince Cable as leader on 24 May 2019, after just under two years as leader of the Liberal Democrats in the United Kingdom. The two candidates to succeed Cable were Ed Davey and Jo Swinson.
The 2020 Liberal Democrats leadership election was held in August 2020, after Jo Swinson, the previous leader of the Liberal Democrats, lost her seat in the 2019 general election. It was initially set to be held in July 2020, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic it was delayed by six weeks, having been at first postponed until May 2021.
2017 United Kingdom party leadership elections | ||
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